what happens when you live to be the kingdom of God

But do I love them?

Each month we open our building for those who are in need of medical care but who have no insurance. Our April clinic has come and gone. Something hit me before this week’s clinic that I wanted to share.

You see we do this every month and often we see the same patients, those who need their medication refilled and those who have chronic needs like high blood pressure. We see a lot of the same people and God asked me a very interesting question this week. He asked me if I loved them.

You see we believe that a key part of being a Christ follower is being His hands and feet, going where Jesus would go and doing what He would do. The problem was I was going to do the things Jesus did but I wasn’t sure I was doing it because I loved them.

I kind of decided I did it because it is really great to be able to say we are actually doing something instead of sitting on our hands. I decided I liked telling others that we had a church that really got it and yet the question gnawed at me, did I love them.

Wednesday morning I decided that as I looked at every person that night I would ask myself if I loved them. If I did then how would I respond to them? You see at times I treat them like people we are helping, aren’t you fortunate to have us around. I think that since they come time and time again and either have a church or have no interest it doesn’t really matter.

This past Wednesday we had a powerful Medical Mission. One of our members even emailed me the next day to say the Spirit was really active. Now I know God isn’t dependent on me, it is I on Him, and yet I realized that I needed to ask this question not just every month but every week and every day. When I see people I simply need to ask myself, “But do you love them.”

I hope I continue to dothis, I hope I will see people differently. I think there is something biblical in connecting the mission of God with the heart that caused the mission, “for God so loved the world…

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I often tell people this as we are about to take up a collection, “Look, God doesn’t need my money to get His work done. He can make every door open that serves His purpose without my money. What he will not do is force me to serve Him in this or any act. God asks us for our hearts and when we give our hearts up to Him, the rest follows in love.”